Privacy and Data Protection

Womble Carlyle's "Privacy Bulletin" highlights select developments that might be of interest to entities that collect or use personally identifiable information. Protecting a person's privacy is a challenge to businesses, universities, and all other entities that collect personal information, particularly given the proliferation of personally identifiable information contained within consumer and employee records. Womble Carlyle issues its Privacy Bulletin twice a month.

Thursday, July 6, 2017, 4:13 PM

Canadian Government Suspends Implementation of Private Right of Action Under CASL

Our previous alert regarding
changes to Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”) previewed two important
changes that were to come into effect as of July 1, 2017:

The end of the transition period under CASL, during which
companies could rely on implied consent for sending “commercial electronic
messages” in certain instances; and

A private right of action for violations of CASL

On June 2, 2017, the Government of Canada suspended the
implementation of the private right of action provision. The private
right of action will not come into effect unless and until the government takes
further action to implement it. According to its press release on June 7,
2017, the Canadian Government will ask a parliamentary committee to review the
private right of action provision, and hopes to strike a balance between
consumer protection and legitimate business marketing activity, that is,
protecting Canadians from spam while allowing entities such as businesses,
charities and non-profits to communicate with Canadians electronically.

The government’s action does not impact the termination of the
transition period, which will become effective on July 1, 2017.